ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a research note released on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ALE opened at $64.90 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business has a 50-day moving average of $64.61 and a 200-day moving average of $64.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.80 and a beta of 0.81. ALLETE has a fifty-two week low of $55.86 and a fifty-two week high of $65.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21). ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The business had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.49 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.705 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is 90.38%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ALLETE

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in ALLETE by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 65,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,190,000 after buying an additional 5,799 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in ALLETE in the 3rd quarter valued at about $282,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,395,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $89,584,000 after buying an additional 21,850 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 187.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 100,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,425,000 after buying an additional 65,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the 3rd quarter worth $779,000. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ALLETE Company Profile

ALLETE, Inc operates as an energy company. The company operates through Regulated Operations, ALLETE Clean Energy, and Corporate and Other segments. It generates electricity from coal-fired, biomass co-fired / natural gas, hydroelectric, wind, and solar. In addition, the company provides regulated utility electric services in northwestern Wisconsin to approximately 15,000 electric customers, 13,000 natural gas customers, and 10,000 water customers, as well as regulated utility electric services in northeastern Minnesota to approximately 150,000 retail customers and 14 non-affiliated municipal customers.